The sick feeling that rose in my stomach was from much more than just the journey through The Void, I knew it was. I'd made that trip hundreds of times and never before had I been so overcome with nausea the moment my feet touched solid rock.

“Home sweet home,” I muttered, not feeling the joy I should in those words. The warm, acrid air brought a familiar heat back to my lungs, and for the first time ever it felt stifling.

Lucas had landed gracefully beside me and, with a flourish as he tidied his long hair, took in a great lungful of foetid air and sighed in contentment. I remembered that feeling, even felt a slight pang of jealousy for not being able to embrace it myself. All I ever longed for when I was away on a job was that feeling of relief and comfort that would overcome me the moment I returned home. Now all I could feel as I stood inside that rocky cavern that was the Receiving Chamber was a dark cloud of foreboding and dread.

“You okay, Rayne? You look a little pale, well paler than usual I mean.” Lucas frowned at me. “The trip doesn't normally make you sick, you haven't been away for that long.”

“Oh no, the trip was fine,” I replied with a roll of my eyes, sarcasm dripping from my tone. “It was a joy, and I can't tell you how excited I am to be back so that they can, y'know, hand me my own head on a platter.” I shook my head a sighed, sometimes he really could be quite dense to anything going on around him. “So where's the welcoming committee?”

At any moment I knew Malick would come waddling in through the arched doorway, probably flanked by a couple of those hideous gaolers so that he could instantly have me detained ready for sentencing. How in the hell was I going to find out anything I needed to know now that I was actually here? It had been a nice plan in theory, but it suddenly dawned on me that I wasn't going to be free to just go about my business as I pleased now I was actually there. They'd gone to great pains to drag me back, they had their own plans for me now.

I didn't like the thought that I might have to rely on Lucas to find things out for me. As good a friend as he was – in as much as a demon could ever be – I didn't trust that he would succeed in the task, nor that he would try especially hard unless I was there to physically hound him about it. Perhaps I could talk directly with Lucifer. Malick wouldn't tell me a thing, he'd never been overly fond of me and I was pretty sure that my absence hadn't done anything to make his heart grow fonder, but Lucifer? Generally he wouldn't confide anything in me, and I would never before have dared to ask, but perhaps it would be worth a try, one last dying wish he may just indulge me in.

“I don't know.” Lucas frowned, scratching absently at the days worth of stubble that peppered his chin. “I figured old Malick would be down here like a shot, you know how long he's been itching to get his claws into you.”

Joking or not, his words were pretty true, though they didn't make me feel any better.

“Exactly. So why isn't he already here? I'd have thought he'd set up some kind of base camp to wait for you to get back.”

Lucas shrugged. “We could go and find out.”

No, of course we shouldn't go and find out, what a stupid suggestion. We should open The Void again and get the hell out of there while we still could – or I should, at the very least, though I didn't much fancy Lucas' chances if I were to abandon him there – though I knew I'd never be able to convince him to turn back now. Either way I was saved the trouble of giving him an answer as the sound of footsteps approached on the dusty stone steps. We wouldn't need to go and find them after all, they had finally come to us.

“I don't think that will be necessary, Lucas.” The lone set of footsteps stopped just inside the Chamber, I had expected there to be more of them, but the voice that spoke slipped down my spine like ice, I had certainly not expected it to be him. “You can now consider your job done, and in a reasonably timely manner too. I must say I am surprised, there were quite a few among us who doubted just how well you would do with your task.”

“I...ah...thank you, I think.” As usual Lucas found himself nervous and tongue tie in the presence of Lucifer. The power that radiated from his mere presence was enough to make anyone choke on their own words, even when he was not displeased with you. Lucas was quaking in his boots, but I was struggling against the urge to prostrate myself at his feet and beg for forgiveness.

“You may go now.” His words were directed at Lucas, though his coal black eyes were fixed firmly on me as an almost sad smile curled his lips.

At the moment of his dismissal, Lucas hurried out through the archway and down the stone steps without so much as a glance back at me. No, no don't just run off. Dammit Lucas, you promised to help me. I cursed him silently in my head, never daring to speak aloud what I was really thinking; my throat was firmly frozen in fear anyway.

I supposed I couldn't really blame him, no demon in their right mind would dare to disobey one of the faces of the supreme power when given a command, but I couldn't help the feeling of hopeless abandonment I felt as I watched his back disappear out of the door. What would happen to our plan now? Would I ever even see Lucas again? I was a fool to ever have had hope.

“Now then, Rayne. What are we going to do with you.”

He moved around the chamber, circling me as a predator would stalk his prey. My throat was dry and no words would come to mind, but I was pretty sure he wasn't actually seeking an answer to his question. I kept my eyes on his feet as he walked, his heavy black boots, laced up to mid-calf above the exquisitely tailored pin-stripe trousers that clung uncomfortably tightly to his muscular legs. Personally I felt the style of suit he currently wore would have better suited a pair of spats, but he always favoured the boots – all the better to crush you with my dear.

Eyes daring to drift higher showed that Lucifer had neglected to wear the matching jacket, choosing instead to stick with only two parts of the three piece suit. The waistcoat, however, was buttoned, and the deep red shirt he had paired it with was open at the collar and had the sleeves rolled up to the elbow; the very picture of dressy-casual.

Keeping my mind on how he was dressed occupied me, stopped me from trembling under his scrutiny or crying in fear and despair. But a part of me really was wishing he would just cut to the chase, there was only so much I could wonder about his taste for human clothing.

“In all honesty I am rather disappointed it has come to this.” He stopped directly in front of me and I was somewhat surprised to note the genuine timbre of disappointment in his voice. It made me look up, high enough to see his face, though I focussed mostly on the neat, thin goatee that edged his jaw and surrounded his mouth, carefully avoiding the risk of falling deep into those tar-pit eyes. I didn't know the full extent of his powers, no one really did, but it was generally agreed upon that if you let him catch your gaze, he would instantly be privy to every single thought inside your head. Not a pleasant idea, and I had never cared to test the theory, nor did I think starting now was a good plan.

“You mean I should have been easier to deal with.” The words came tumbling out of my mouth before I had too much of a chance to think them through, but the wheels in my head had started turning as Lucifer stalked me. He was here again, he'd been there at the start and now he was back again, but that wasn't how it worked, he dictated things for others to do he didn't undertake petty tasks like apprehending a fugitive himself. Whatever was really going on had something to do with him.

“Perhaps.” He shrugged, “Although a part of me had hoped it could be avoided altogether.”

“Bullshit!” I clapped my hands to my mouth the moment the word had left my lips, but I could not take back the curse.

“You will watch your mouth in my presence, do I make myself clear!” he said, raising his voice so that it rang around the chamber, echoing off of the stone walls and repeating the reprimand in my ears.

Physically shaking, I nodded and swallowed hard. “S-sorry, I didn't mean...it's just...” I couldn't get the words out and he held out a hand to stop me even trying.

“There are no excuses, Rayne. Too many human deaths have occurred at your hands, the natural balance has been threatened. But above all, you revealed our most precious secrets to a human. You betrayed your kind, your calling, your very purpose of existence. These things cannot go unanswered.”

“But, these things, I was pushed into all of it, set up. You know that it wasn't my fault, I didn't mean to do any of it. You know this, there was never any case to begin with yet you still sent me up there...why did you do this to me?” I hadn't meant to voice my accusations out loud, but something inside of me had finally clicked the pieces together while, in response, another was rapidly crumbling and falling apart.

Lucifer, however, was growing impatient with my ranting and was clearly angered by my daring to voice any kind of accusation against him. “I told you to watch your tongue.”

“But it's true.” My frantic thoughts gave me a sudden surge of foolish courage. If I was to be condemned anyway, I wasn't about to just roll over and not have my say, I would go to the fires kicking and screaming. I would not cower in his presence, not any more, he had the answers I wanted. It had been him who'd personally sent me on that case to corrupt Jesse, he knew the truth of all of this, hell he might even be the cause behind the whole thing. “Tell me why! Why did you do this to me?”

Acting on the surge of adrenaline that my sudden reckless courage had injected into my system, I rushed forwards and grabbed the front of Lucifers' waistcoat.”Why! Tell me why you would set me up like this. What was it I did to deserve this?” I yanked at the fabric, surprised at my own strength as I physically shook the demon to punctuate my words.

He stared down at me, the rage and fury radiating heat from his black eyes. Not only had I dared to speak to him in such a manner, but I'd placed my hands on him, physically accosted him as I made demands I had, in his view, not right ever to make of him.

“Remove your hands from me,” he said softly, with dark, sinister fury thick in his tone.

“No, not until you tell me why. I didn't deserve this.” I had well and truly snapped. No longer caring for my own well-being all I wanted was answers, an answer for the deep betrayal I felt. He talked about me betraying my own kind, but it was them who had turned on me first, why were they not up to answer for their own crimes also?

I didn't see it coming until the impact of his open palm colliding with the side of my face staggered me. I saw stars and tasted blood. My hands lost their grip and I stumbled away from Lucifer, touching fingers to the red burn that had started to swell over my cheek and lips. My breathing came in haggard gasps as I came crashing down from my frantic adrenaline high and realised what I'd actually done. My all or nothing attitude didn't feel so smart any more, it certainly hadn't won me any favours. Had I really lost such control of myself and my emotions so completely?

Nausea overcame me once again and I sank to my knees, vomiting whiskey and stomach acid into the dirt.

“You would do well to remember your place in this world, Rayne, particularly at this moment.”

If he had been shaken by my deranged actions he didn't show it. Calm, composed and deeply terrifying he straightened his clothing and looked down at me with disgust and disappointment. I must have made an incredibly pathetic picture.

“Gaolers!” Lucifer shouted and the sound of a pair of lumbering footsteps could be heard making their way up the last few stone steps; they must have been there the whole time awaiting their command. “Escort Rayne to her chambers, she is to be placed under house arrest.”

“But, I didn't...”

“What you did or didn't deserve to happen is neither here nor there any more. What you can done cannot be easily rectified, and all crimes must be answered for, no matter the circumstances under which they occur.”

I couldn't read his facial expression which worried me. He was usually either seen glowering with anger, or the perfect façade of cold and blank detachedness and stately composure. But as he spoke, something completely different shifted on his features. On a human it would have been easy to recognise, but Lucifer, even in his humanoid body, was far from human. His face and expression was embroiled with so much dark strength and power, the look upon it would always be entirely alien.

“You are to be confined to your chambers to await trail.”

“Trial?” I asked, not sure I had heard quite correctly as my mind had been too busy trying to identify what he was thinking.

“Yes. You are to stand trial for your crimes against your kin, as is customary.”

While it was a relief to know I was not instantly being condemned to death, the prospect of a trail did not exactly fill me with a renewed sense of hope. There was no such thing as innocent when it came to a criminal trial in Hell, only degree's of guilt, and as I had thought not so long ago, in the eyes of my own kind my crimes were like to blow the top off of the scale.

Some time to bide might give me a chance to find some answers to my questions as Lucifer was not likely to provide them now. But if I was confined to my chambers how would I ever find them? And would Lucas dare put his own neck on the line to search on my behalf? I wasn't sure I even wanted to ask.